Playing a Game of Death
by HatsuneForever
Summary: The look of smugness now shadowed any supposed pity. "This is not a simulation. All of what you say and do is monitored, so any plotting is not highly recommended. I urge you to obey these rules and solve the puzzles to the best of your abilities. We wish you the best of luck, and..." a chuckle slipped past her lips. "May the best tributes live."


I woke with a gasp, my head pounding and my body sore. Everything around me was a blur, engulfed by a blinding white lighting. _Run through the procedures, Len, _I told myself. _Use what you've been taught. You'll make it through this. _Slowly, I lifted my left arm. Flexing my fingers, moving my wrist, bending my elbow and finally touching the back of my neck and rolling my shoulders. Nothing was wrong with that side of my body.

As I started to move my right arm, a searing pain ripped through it. I winced, a hiss escaping my numb lips. I sat up as far as I could go, and saw a red 02 engraved into my arm. Under it was a small, periodically blinking white light, throbbing and sending more pain into the right side of my body. I held my breath and sat up anyway, my eyes finally adjusting to the light. After waking the rest of my body, my legs swung off the bed and landed with a thump against the marble tiles. I wobbly stood and looked around me. The furniture-lacking room was a pure white, expect for the metal door. A large cover which looked like a screen blended with the walls. I could see my reflection in the screen, and I looked how I usually do. My blonde hair was as spiky and golden as it always was, my eyes the same sapphire blue since I was born. Though my clothes were a material I had never felt before...That was when I really looked at my clothes, the black long-sleeved V-neck and form-fitting jeans just now catching my attention. (work on this part)

I jumped as the door swung open, revealing a girl with pink hair tied in a bun, her right shoulder tattooed with a red 03 above the same blinking light as myself. Her sharp, sky blue eyes clashed with mine, sky on sapphire blue, as we both hit a state of recognition.

"Len?"  
"Luka?"

She let out a relieved cry, stepping forward and locking me in an embrace. I cringed as a pained groan slipped from my mouth.

"Luka, my... my arm!" she released, a look of apology swiped across her face before running out. I followed her with my eyes, and I heard her yell,

"Guys! I found Len! Len's here!" Multiple voices of surprise echoed through the dim hallway, followed by the slap of footsteps against the floor and laughs of relief as they found me for themselves. Kaito, Miku, Gumi, Meiko, and Gakupo were present, but as I did the mental math I realized something about this situation was very wrong... Oblivious to this they all surrounded me, talking at once in one happy jumble of words.

"Guys, calm down. I'm very happy to know we're all here, but something is going on and we need to find out what. Can anyone remember anything that has happened prior to this?" we all exchanged looks, pacing back and forth and sorting out our thoughts but everyone shook their heads.

"It seems that all of us have been wiped clean, Len." Gumi stated sadly. "The only thing I can remember is waking up in a room just like this down the hall, the only thing I could feel was this pain in my arm." she lifted her short sleeve to the number 04 and the throbbing light. We all pulled up our sleeves and showed our numbers. Miku was given 01, me 02, Luka 03, Gumi 04, and then a huge skip as Meiko gave 07, Kaito 08, and Gakupo 09.

"What the hell? Five, six, and ten are just... missing!"

"They have to be here somewhere!"

"Something must have happened to them!"

"Who do you think it could be?"

"What if we're supposed to find them?"

"Are there any more doors we haven't checked?"

"No, there are only seven doors. Whoever put us here wanted only the seven of us..." the group's frightened murmurs died down as they held each other's gazes. I could already feel the fear building up as my childhood friends tried to find a logical explanation for our presence in the blinding white room. I stood up and opened my mouth to say something when the screen on the wall lit up, a woman's face smiling warmly at them. But there was something else in her face, something I couldn't place as pity, smugness, or excitement, or a little of all.

"Hello and good afternoon, lucky tributes," she said with a regal tone. "My name is Prima. Throughout this fun little experience I will be your announcer, or caller, if you will. Congratulations, you tributes that have been chosen are among the smartest in their own field of expertise and are invited to play a little game. The objective is simple: each of you will have to push your talent/genius to the limit to survive." she smiled again, and the only thing that could be heard were whispered string of profanities from Luka.

"The rules are of equal simplicity. Any unauthorized exiting will result in immediate elimination. Any attempt to remove your number or tracker, 03, will result in elimination." Luka cursed again and removed her hand from the bleeding wound on her arm. "All players must stay together and any stragglers will be eliminated. Each floor will have some type of puzzle which corresponds to your level of expertise, which you must clear within the time limit if you wish to retrieve the captive. Failure to retrieve the captive will result in elimination of captive as well as one decided player. The captives will vary, from family members to friends to the three missing players." the look of smugness now shadowed any supposed pity.

"This is not a simulation. All of what you say and do is monitored, so any plotting is not highly recommended. I urge you to obey these rules and solve the puzzles to the best of your abilities. We wish you the best of luck, and..." a chuckle slipped past her lips.

"May the best tributes live."

* * *

The room was filled with sorrowful silence. Gumi leaned on Gakupo for support, but even her strong-willed brother couldn't give her the comfort she so direly needed. Meiko broke down, her fists pressed against her head and her knees curled into her chest, tears streaming down her face. Luka, Miku, and I just stood staring at the screen.

_The captives will vary... family members... _They couldn't... they didn't have her. It wasn't possible. My sister was too smart, too strong to allow herself to be held captive. They couldn't possibly have gotten her, not even with their biggest army. This must not have anything against me. They can't break me if they don't have the thing I cherish the most. Taking a deep breath, I tore my eyes away from the blank screen and took in my grieving friends, my best friends with tears streaming down their faces, sulking over their imminent deaths. In that moment, something inside of me snapped. I had to do something. Our story isn't going to end like this. We had a term paper due in two days and I wasn't going to take that F, not over my dead body.

"We're going to survive this. We are, as Prima said, the smartest in our own field of expertise. We have the power to survive this, and we're going to go out victorious or we aren't the 'tributes' from Vocaloid High," I folded my arms. The six looked up at me with tear-filled eyes, ranging in color. Luka, one of the only ones who held her tears, wiped her blue eyes harshly and set a determined look.

"You're right as usual, Kagamine. It's the only way. We do this for each other. And we do it with style." a wry chuckle escaped her lips as she slid her hand into mine, squeezing with the force of desperation and gratitude. I smiled at her and looked to my friends, who were persuading their fears to allow them control. After one last tear, Miku appeared at my side, taking my other hand.

"You really are crazy, you know that? On the slim chance that we do make it, I plan on seeing you on the student body council," she smirked, taking his other hand. Her grip was more underrated pride, nothing less expected from the Hatsune Miku. With puffy eyes and decided smirks, Meiko and Kaito share a kiss before joining hands with each other. Gakupo and Gumi came quickly after.

"You hear that, Prima?" Miku stood on the bed, gripping a wall camera with a force that would have shattered anything else. "We'll humor you. We'll play your little game. But no one is dying. We're sticking together on this and you'd be a fool to think otherwise." she smirked, a trademark only Hatsune could pull.

"Make sure you tell your 'boss' Hatsune Miku and the gang said so." and with a yank, the camera dislocated from the wall. We all smiled, but there was still an indescribable sadness that hung like fog in the room. They weren't idiots; they knew quite well it was nearly impossible to manage the group of seven, not to mention the other three that were to come. We would try our hardest, but their safety- our safety- wasn't guaranteed. And even though they all knew this, they still walked down the hall with determined faces and pressed the elevator button, not knowing what lay ahead.


End file.
